Jimmy Jet and His TV Set
By Shel Silverstein
I’ll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet —
And you know what I tell you is true.
He loved to watch his TV set
Almost as much as you.He watched all day, he watched all night
Till he grew pale and lean,
From “The Early Show” to “The Late Late Show”
And all the shows between.He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,
And his bottom grew into his chair.
And his chin turned into a tuning dial,
And antennae grew out of his hair.And his brains turned into TV tubes,
And his face to a TV screen.
And two knobs saying “VERT.” and “HORIZ.”
Grew where his ears had been.And he grew a plug that looked like a tail
So we plugged in little Jim.
And now instead of him watching TV
We all sit around and watch him.
Summary of Jimmy Jet and His TV Set
- Popularity of “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set”: The poem ‘Jimmy Jet and His TV Set’ was written by Shel Silverstein, a popular American poet, lyricist, playwright, and cartoonist. It is an interesting poem, which is borrowed from his book, Where the Sidewalk Ends, published in 1974. The poem’s beauty is attributed to its humorous inward turn. The story of Jimmy and his TV set was presented with a twitch on Jimmy how he turns into a television set.
- “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set” As a Representative of Excessive Childhood Obsessions: The poet starts the poem with the claim that he is going to tell the story of Jimmy Jet. According to him, the story is true and he adds that there is no doubt about it. Jimmy Jet, he says, loves his television so much so that he watches it all day. He does not leave the first show and the last show and it becomes his obsession. Jimmy watches television so much that he himself turns into a television set. He grows an antenna, has knobs and a plug to start it. The writer ends the poem that now they watch Jimmy Jet, who has turned into the television instead of watching the television set.
- Major Themes in “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set”: Children’s obsession with television, harms of watching television, and teaching a lesson to children are three major themes of the poem. Although the very title tells that it is a story for children, the poet has beautifully presented Jimmy Jet obsessed with watching television. He presents his viewpoint that immoderate television watching can be hazardous to children and that it is beneficial for them to learn a moral lesson about reducing their television viewing.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used In Jimmy Jet and His TV Set
literary devices bring variety into simple poetic pieces. Shel Silverstein also used some literary devices in this poem and the analysis is as follows.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as, the sound of /o/ in “I’ll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet –” the sound of /aw/ in “He watched all day, he watched all night” and the sound of /e/ in “He watched till his eyes were frozen wide.”
- Alliteration: The poem shows the use of alliteration with the use of initial consonant sounds of the neighboring words such as the sound of /j/ in “Jimmy Jet”, and /l/ in “looked like.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /n/ and /t/ in “And you know what I tell you is true” and the sound of /t/ in “From “The Early Show” to “The Late Late Show”.”
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example,
And he grew a plug that looked like a tail
So we plugged in little Jim.
And now instead of him watching TV
We all sit around and watch him.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “Till he grew pale and lean”, “And his bottom grew into his chair” and “And two knobs saying “VERT.” and “HORIZ.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poet used eyes as metaphors of water, the bottom of a tree, and the chin of a dial.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of symbols of television and its different parts to highlight the impacts of obsessions.
- Simile: The poem shows the use of similes such as “And he grew a plug that looked like a tail.”
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Jimmy Jet and His TV Set
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: The poem shows the good use of poetic diction. The tone is funny and exciting.
- Rhyme Scheme: The sonnet follows the ABAB rhyme scheme in all five stanzas.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are five stanzas with each having four lines.
- Quatrain: The poem shows good use of quatrains, a Persian borrowed stanza, having four lines such as the first or the second stanza of the poem shows.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set” are appropriate to use when showing displeasure toward children for using too much screen time.
He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,
And his bottom grew into his chair.
And his chin turned into a tuning dial,
And antennae grew out of his hair.
